Duplicate Poker Closes its Doors

[redeyed]

Posted on 06 October 2008

Today, stock markets around the world dropped by about 5%, which brought more bad news for investors. The worldwide economic slowdown has taken its toll on the online poker industry. Duplicate Poker, which billed itself as a legal online poker room in the United States, abruptly shut down as of Sunday due to the “global financial crisis,” according to a statement posted on its website.

The statement reads, “Duplicate is sadly bidding farewell to its players. Caught in the middle of the global financial situation, the company is not able to continue to provide service. We are a small victim of the global financial crisis.” However, the statement expresses optimism for the future: “Hopefully at later time and in a better economic climate Duplicate Poker will re-appear.” Below the statement is place for existing customers to enter their user name and password as well as an option to request a withdrawal.

The news comes just a few weeks after the company issued a press release announcing the registration of its 250,000th member on September 15th. Pinhas Romik, the founder and CEO of Duplicate Poker, commented in that release, “DuplicatePoker.com has quickly gained global appeal and poker players at all levels are playing this new game and developing new strategies for winning. Our revenues have increased six-fold since the public launch and we expect the game’s popularity to continue its upward trajectory.”

Duplicate Poker was allegedly one of the few legal online poker rooms to operate in the United States because of its focus on the skill of its contestants. Players seated in the same position at different tables would be dealt the same hole cards. Their success (or failure) would be determined by the number of chips each player had accumulated relative to others in their same position. The site claimed, “As a result, Duplicate Poker eliminates the luck of the draw and pits players’ true poker skills against each other.”

Romik noted that Duplicate Poker had the potential to be a craze in the United States, where the legal environment is cloudy because of the vagueness of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA): “We have patented the Duplicate Poker process and it has the potential to be marketed, licensed and monetized globally. Our legal status in the U.S. also offers a competitive advantage.”

Danny Flamberg, former Chief Marketing Officer for Duplicate Poker, told Poker News daily, “We feel that we are collateral damage from the global struggle. The banks pulled our line of credit and froze our business. Our leadership believed that conducting business under those circumstances would have been fraudulent.”

Duplicate Poker opened in 2004 and amassed $11 million in start-up capital. It had hoped to expand its presence into Europe and Asia as part of a “B round of funding.” Now, those plans have seemingly been placed on hold. It is headquartered in New York City and also has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. The statement released on September 15th claimed that the site was growing at a rate of 20% every month. It officially closed its doors on Sunday, October 5th.

Several subscription-based online poker rooms operate in the United States. They include the World Poker Tour’s ClubWPT and Fleet Street Games. On Sunday, the first six-man ClubWPT final table aired on Fox Sports Net. The brute force of the poker room’s promotional offering is geared towards sending players to Los Angeles to tape these shows, which air on Sunday afternoons at 4:00pm local time and replay at 11:00pm. Soon, the World Poker Tour will air 26 one hour episodes on Fox Sports Net as part of Season VII.

Fleet Street Games is based in Austin, Texas and offers $150,000 in tournaments every month. Membership is $19.95 per month and the site runs one $50,000 tournament monthly.

This post was written by:
Dan Cypra
http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/duplicate ... doors-479/